1. Field of the Invention
The system of the present inventin relates to air systems for vessels. More particularly, the preferred embodiment of the present inventio relates to a system for introducing air into pre-determined areas of a vessel when the vessel has begun to sink or capsize following a catastrophic accident or the like.
2. General Background
In the art of water vessels, more particularly the catagory of larger vessels utilized to transport, because of the nature of the vessel and the work conducted thereon, the vessel must be manned by a crew, and likewise must have quarters to house and feed the crew. A typical type of vessel would be the type utilized for servicing the oil field wherein crew members are housed in the vessel while the vessel is being transported to and from locations or the like. Also, there are certain vessel known as "jack-up rigs", which are actually floatable vessels having a plurality of jacket legs and a crew living on-board the vessel. The vessel is self-transportable out to open sea, at which time the legs are implanted into the water bottom and the vessel "jacks-up" and serves as an isolated structure in the open water.
One of the problems often confronted with any type of sea traffic, is the danger of capsizing. Of course, when a vessel such as the above-typed referenced does in fact become engaged in a water accident while in transit or jacked up on location, these vessels being quite often times loaded with pipe, machinery or other type of heavy material, there is a tendency for the vessel to sink, and or capsize rather rapidly. If, of course, during a simple sinking this equipment should shift, then the vessel would begin to list and may in fact turn over during the act of sinking.
Such an occurrance, would have tragic consequences often times for the crew on board particularly if the accident would have occurred in the middle of the night when most if not all of the crew is asleep in quarters. Of course, the overturning of such a vessel would effectively trap the crew in their crew quarters and would in all likelihood result in some if not all of the crew drowning or suffocating from loss of air from being submerged. It has been found from accidents which have occured in water involving such a vessel, that the crew members bodies who were recovered following the accident, were found times not to have simply or quickly drowned, but to have succomed to asphyxiation before drowning. The theory is that when the vessel overturns, there is trapped air within the quarters, and for a while, sometimes hours, the members in the quarters although the vessel is submerged are able to breath. However, when this pocket of air runs out of the necessary oxygen content, the crew members drown after being quickly asphyxiated. The system of the present invention is designed to provide means for supplying, for a time, the necessary air (approximately 72% N, 28% O) in such an occurance until divers or other rescue efforts can bring the individual who are trapped to safety above the water.
Several patents have issued in the pertinent art, the most important being as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,141,438 issued to Smith entitled "Water Tight and Air Tight Rooms for Ships", relates to water and air tight compartments on ships by providing a ship having all of the outside rooms on all decks incorporating means whereby the room may be made air and water tight in time of emergency such as sinking of the ship.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,453,979 issued to Buck entitled "Fluidic Control System", provides a system to self-contain for lifting an object according to a predetermined velocity and attitude program without the use of external monitors, external system inputs or lifting devices by providing a totally self-contained fluidic control system for buoyant bodies.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,618 issued to Tuffier entitled "Safety Device for Rendering A Boat Unsinkable", provides a device for habitable botat having one inflatable planar envelope disposed in a part of the inner volume of the hull of the boat which is devoid of obstacle which might oppose the inflation of the envelope, the normally closed source of gas under pressure connected to the envelope and means for actuating the source of gas for controlling the inflation of the envelope.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,447,474 issued to Ullrich entitled "Catamaran Equipped With Re-Righting Device", relates to a device for providing a catamaran which facilitates the re-righting in difficult situations without physical labor by the provision of forward hulls having floodable forecastles and buoyancy chambers disposed forwardly of the forecastles.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,350 issued to Moucha entitled "Gravity Weight Trigger For A Life Raft", relates to an apparatus for providing a life raft inflating device which is gravity actuated such that when the boat is overturn due to bad weather or dangerously steep turns, the device is triggered, inflating the life raft.